The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: 'What, Me Worry?'

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: 'What, Me Worry?': "One of America's most important entrepreneurs recently gave a remarkable speech at a summit meeting of our nation's governors. Bill Gates minced no words. 'American high schools are obsolete,' he told the governors. 'By obsolete, I don't just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed and underfunded. ... By obsolete, I mean that our high schools - even when they are working exactly as designed - cannot teach our kids what they need to know today."

The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial: Energy Follies

The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial: Energy Follies: "It was fascinating to watch President Bush lay out intelligent approaches to pressing problems at his news conference on Thursday night, and then urge Congress to pass bills that would do almost nothing to solve them. Social Security was one case in point, but another egregious example was energy, an issue that has moved to center stage in the White House because of public concern over high prices for oil and gasoline at the pump."

Experts Say New Data Shows Global Warming a Definite and Serious Problem

ENN: Environmental News Network [[Today's News Full Story ]]: "Climate scientists armed with new data from deep in the ocean and far into space have found that Earth is absorbing much more heat than it is giving off, a conclusion they say validates projections of global warming.

Lead scientist James Hansen, a prominent NASA climatologist, described the findings on the planet's out-of-balance energy exchange as a 'smoking gun' that should dispel doubts about forecasts of climate change"

Congress Passes Budget that Cuts Medicaid

The Associated Press: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- A $2.6 trillion budget outline barely approved by Congress will cut projected spending on Medicaid for the poor, lock in tax cuts and - Republicans claim - put the country on a path toward lower federal deficits.

Democrats unanimously opposed the spending outline passed late Thursday. They said the budget reflects the president's misplaced priorities by freezing or trimming health, education and agriculture programs while cutting taxes by as much as $106 billion over five years"

Light, Sweet-Talking And Crude: The Bush Energy Plan

TomPaine.com - Light, Sweet-Talking And Crude: "Despite regurgitating all the focus-group mumbo-jumbo, the president offered no real plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Though praising the House-passed energy bill (loaded with tax breaks for big energy companies like ExxonMobil), he conceded it 'is certainly no quick fix' for higher gas prices. (The Energy Information Administration reported that an earlier, similar version of the legislation would actually increase gas prices.)"

TomPaine.com - Bush's Snake Oil Plan

TomPaine.com - Bush's Snake Oil Plan: "President Bush’s staff signaled ahead of time that he would use his first prime-time news conference in ages to somehow give a shot in the arm to his floundering campaign for privatization. Instead, by giving a few more details about how specifically he would cut Social Security benefits, he managed to shoot himself in the foot—again.

With the president facing growing criticism over a troubled economy, increasing oil prices, continuing American deaths in Iraq, his embrace of Tom Delay’s corporate corruption, and the sinking popularity of his Social Security plan, Bush’s staff rolled out a proposal that only conservative Washington policy wonks could understand or love. And ironically, they put the president before the press to pose as a champion of the poor—which, translated from Bush-speak, means the cuts to retirement benefits for the poor will merely be less than the cuts he wants to make for “people who are better of"

THE LOOTING OF SOCIAL SECURITY TO BALANCE THE FEDERAL BUDGET

For years, the federal government has been using the money set aside for social security to try to pay down the budget deficits that arise from spending far more than it takes it. See the link below for details.

THE LOOTING OF SOCIAL SECURITY TO BALANCE THE FEDERAL BUDGET

Bush Is Blowing Smoke on Energy

Bush Is Blowing Smoke on Energy: "Hitting all the points in a noted GOP pollster's playbook, the President's plan is driven by politics not policy. Worse, it won't cut oil dependency"

Help stop college costs from soaring

CAFAction Center: "College costs are soaring out of control and we can help put a stop to it. We need your help to preserve a $5 billion investment in higher education. We need you to tell Congress that every student deserves a chance to keep his/her college dream alive"

CNN's New Boss: Progressives "Don't Get Too Worked up About Anything"

CNN's New Boss: Progressives "Don't Get Too Worked up About Anything": "Over the years, media owners and editors have come up with different explanations for the lack of left or progressive voices across the media landscape. We're told those ideas are unpopular with the public, for example, or that leftists aren't as engaging or likeable as, say, Sean Hannity.

The new CNN President Jonathan Klein offered another theory during an appearance on PBS's Charlie Rose Show on March 25: Progressives aren't angry enough. When Rose asked if there could ever be a successful progressive version of Fox News Channel, Klein thought not. He explained that while Fox was tapping into a brand of 'mostly angry white men' conservatism, 'a quote/unquote, 'progressive' or liberal network probably couldn't reach the same sort of an audience, because liberals tend to like to sample a lot of opinions"

Hey Congress: “Put a Cap on those Interest Rates, Now!

Baltimore Independent Media Center: Hey Congress: “Put a Cap on those Interest Rates, Now!: "The Credit Cartel made a staggering $31.6 billion in profits last year. Rates as high as 29 percent are now legal. Americans are over $800 billion in debt to these predators. Meanwhile, Congress, which received $8 million in donations in 2004 from the Cartel has just passed a new Bankruptcy law to put the squeeze further on consumers. It’s time for Congress to put a reasonale cap on interest payments and to repeal that Bankruptcy law."

10 Seattle schools targeted for closure

10 Seattle schools targeted for closure: "Faced with multimillion-dollar budget deficits, Seattle Public Schools administrators yesterday outlined a cost-cutting plan that would close 10 schools, eliminate a popular alternative program and create two middle schools.

Under the sweeping restructuring proposal, more than 3,500 students would be displaced -- a sobering fact that outraged many parents last night."

Are you ready of a world of corporate logos???

A really scary view of the future! See the link

Worth1000.com | Photoshop Contests | Are you Worthy™ | contest

FBI Tells 911 Rescue Worker To 'Shut Up' Over Finding Airplane 'Black Boxes'

FBI Tells 911 Rescue Worker To 'Shut Up' Over Finding Airplane 'Black Boxes': "Two ground zero workers go public about finding cockpit and flight data recorders from Flight 11 and 175. Government claims 'black boxes' from the doomed 911 flights were never found. 911 Commission ignores information and fails to interview rescue workers.

A 911 rescue worker said this week he was told by FBI agents to 'keep his mouth shut' about one of the 'black boxes' found at ground zero, contradicting the official story that none of the flight and cockpit data recorders were ever recovered in the WTC wreckage."

A Week of Student Labor Action

AlterNet Mobile Edition

FDA Studies Show Aspartame Link to Brain Tumors

FDA Studies Show Aspartame Link to Brain Tumors: "ATLANTA (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) April 12, 2005 -- Consumer rights advocacy group Mission Possible is leading a campaign to fill a product liability lawsuit with New York and New Jersey residents whose brain tumors may be linked to the consumption of the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful, etc.).

'Neither congressional hearings or repeated petitions calling for a ban have stopped aspartame manufacturers from exposing the public to this sweet poison. In fact, aspartame producers are reporting increased sales and boasting the marketplace addition of 'neotame,' a new aspartame product,' explained Mission Possible International Founder Betty Martini."

In Advance of Court Battle Over State Secrets, Experts Discuss the Government's Growing Use of Secrecy to Avoid Accountability

In Advance of Court Battle Over State Secrets, Experts Discuss the Government's Growing Use of Secrecy to Avoid Accountability: "Washington, DC -- As a preview to the appellate argument in Sibel Edmonds' case, secrecy and legal experts will hold a press briefing on Wednesday, April 20th to address the far-reaching impact of Edmonds'case and the disturbing trend of excessive government secrecy aimed at avoiding accountability.

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting serious security breaches and misconduct. Edmonds challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a lawsuit in federal court, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called 'state secrets privilege,' and retroactively classified briefings to Congress related to her case."

The New York Times > AP > National > White House Said to Impede Education Probe

The New York Times > AP > National > White House Said to Impede Education Probe: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is impeding an investigation into the Education Department's hiring of commentator Armstrong Williams by refusing to allow key White House officials to be interviewed, a Democratic lawmaker briefed on the review said Thursday."

High School Dropout - A Crisis?

The Black Commentator - Cover Story: Blacks Pushed Down and Out - Issue 134

Only half of African American youth (50.2%) graduate with a diploma from high school – 42.8% of males and 56.2% of females, according to an Urban Institute study, Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth are being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis. The report, released in February in collaboration with the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and other organizations, reveals a national education reality far bleaker than the rosy upper middle class landscape projected for decades by corporate media. Although Black dropout rates are certainly a precursor of social disaster, only 76.8% of Asian/Pacific Islanders, the highest graduating ethnic category, pick up their diplomas at the end of the 12th grade. Whites are roughly 2 points behind.

Thus, the national educational self-image, in which only marginalized groups drop out of high school, and where college is the norm, is false for all of America.

What Ricin? - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com

What Ricin? - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com

Colin Powell and British authorities pointed to a poison plot as justification for the war on Iraq. But a jury says the case didn’t add up.

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Don't be fooled by the spin on Iraq

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Don't be fooled by the spin on Iraq: "Saddam Hussein's effigy was pulled down again in Baghdad's Firdos Square at the weekend. But unlike the made-for-TV event when US troops first entered the Iraqi capital, the toppling of Saddam on the occupation's second anniversary was different.

Instead of being done by US marines with a few dozen Iraqi bystanders, 300,000 Iraqis were on hand. They threw down effigies of Bush and Blair as well as the old dictator, at a rally that did not celebrate liberation but called for the immediate departure of foreign troops."

Study Finds Shortcoming inNo Child Left Behind

The New York Times > National > Study Finds Shortcoming in New Law on Education: "The academic growth that students experience in a given school year has apparently slowed since the passage of No Child Left Behind, the education law that was intended to achieve just the opposite, a new study has found."

FDA Studies Show Aspartame Link to Brain Tumors

FDA Studies Show Aspartame Link to Brain Tumors: "ATLANTA (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) April 12, 2005 -- Consumer rights advocacy group Mission Possible is leading a campaign to fill a product liability lawsuit with New York and New Jersey residents whose brain tumors may be linked to the consumption of the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful, etc.).

'Neither congressional hearings or repeated petitions calling for a ban have stopped aspartame manufacturers from exposing the public to this sweet poison. In fact, aspartame producers are reporting increased sales and boasting the marketplace addition of 'neotame,' a new aspartame product,' explained Mission Possible International Founder Betty Martini."

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

Guardian Unlimited | Life | Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up': "The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure.

The study contains what its authors call 'a stark warning' for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself."

AlterNet: Old Women Out in the Cold

AlterNet: Old Women Out in the Cold: "An army of economists and pundits have debunked the president's claims that Social Security is in 'crisis.' What they don't publicize, however, is that the president's plan for private accounts would deepen the crisis faced by vast numbers of elderly women."

Newsday.com: Judge refuses request for FBI records on 1996 Flight 800 crash

Newsday.com: Judge refuses request for FBI records on 1996 Flight 800 crash: "SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit seeking to force the FBI to release more records from its investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island nearly a decade ago.

Judge Michael A. Ponsor ruled Tuesday in favor of the FBI in a lawsuit filed by a Massachusetts man who has questioned the government's account of the crash."